A University of Maine doctoral candidate is seeking research participants for a Skype/Zoom/Hangout based study concerning high school teachers’ experiences in both the brick-and-mortar and virtual classrooms.
The study is entitled, “A Multiple Case Study of Secondary School Teachers’ Understanding of Learning Relationships in Virtual Schools: Implications for Teacher Identity.”
Current virtual high school teachers with prior brick-and-mortar teaching experience are invited to contact Linda Fuller, the researcher, at [email protected] or at 207-461-1700. If you meet the preliminary requirements, you will be invited to participate in three distance interviews scheduled at your convenience.
In the interviews you will be asked about your reasons for becoming a teacher, various aspects of your experiences with learners and some of your thinking about those experiences. The total interview time will be less than five hours and will result in three transcripts you are welcome to review and approve.
This research may help inform the work of policymakers and school administrators seeking successful use of technology to enhance school programming, teacher preparation programs as they prepare teachers to teach at a distance from learners, professional development designers working with current teachers who wish to move into virtual teaching, and those individuals deciding where and whether to teach.
Although this is not a compensated study, earlier participants have called the process “engaging” and “rewarding” so hopefully that will be true for others as well.